ROCKLAND'S ONLY EXCLUSIVE BUYER'S REAL ESTATE AGENCY

MARKET SNAPSHOT AS OF 7.07

August 30, 2007

Many people have asked me to try and translate the news reports about the doom and gloom in the real estate market. Despite Chicken Little, the sky is not falling in New York. The market is definitely quieter than in the past few years, buyers have choices and sellers are not able to ask crazy prices and get them (or even more). But, I still do not foresee huge price declines like other areas of the country are experiencing. California, Las Vegas and Florida have all been hit hard. Their downward spiral is like their upward spike was… excessive.

The latest numbers for New York State as a whole show a reduction in number of closed sales of 2.5% when comparing July 2006 and July 2007. However when you compare July 2005 to July 2007 we have a drop of 12%. Perhaps that means the downward slip is about to hit bottom? Rockland County seems to be resisting the downward trend. Comparing July 2006 to July 2007 we have an increase of 26.5% and July 2005 to July 2007 and increase of 3.3%. Orange County dropped 2.8% for 2006 to 2007 and 13.1% for the 2005 to 2007 period.

Comparing median sale prices for that same period actually shows a price increase for both Orange and Rockland over the last two years. Median sales price in Orange increased by 2.3% since 2005 to $327500 and Rockland increased by 1.2% to $518,450 although comparing 2006 to 2007 shows a slight decline in both counties.

All of these numbers seem to contradict each other and there is little wonder the whole industry is in a state of confusion! But for now, I think Rockland and Orange are far more stable than the national or even state numbers would indicate and our market will continue to be slower but stable. —Judy

MARKET TALK

May 10, 2007

A client has just asked me about getting a “bargain” since it is being called a buyer’s market. While it is true that the buyer has much more control now and many more options to choose from in their purchase, we are still not seeing many “bargains”.

The year to date median home price in Rockland in March of 2007 was $480,000 as compared to $490,000 in March of 2006. That is only a 2% reduction in price. There are many parts of the country that are experiencing huge price declines, but that does not seem to be the case in this area. I think part of the reason is that we did not have the 200% price increases in this area during the boom so we don’t have quite as much to recover from. Secondly, our economy and jobless rate in this area are quite stable so buyers are more comfortable in the market. Third, interest rates are still very low and all projections say they will continue to stay in a reasonable range.

Our inventory is up and the days on market are up. Sellers are willing to negotiate again. This is a good time to make a fair deal on a good property, but not necessarily a huge “bargain”. —Judy

WHOM DO YOU TRUST?

May 2, 2007

A recent question concerned Zillow.com and the value that they gave a property with their “zestimate”. The Zillow value was significantly less that what the seller was asking for the property and the very reasonable question from the buyer was “Why is it so different?” What the mathematical calculations at Zillow do not take into account are the specific factors about that particular house. In this case it was located on a very busy street and was in poor condition. If you are not able to visually inspect a house, you will have trouble placing an accurate value on it. While Zillow is a very valuable tool for buyers in many ways, it is not the best way to determine value.

As buyers, you will become a very good judge of value as you progress through the home search process. You will know what is on the market in your price range and be able to compare the pros and cons of each home to determine its value to you. —Judy